Hello everyone! Just wanted to say hello and give a short introduction. My name is Magnus, i'm 30 years old, from Sweden and have never collected or really been interested in watches before. Not until i was bitten by the vintage omega beast as someone put it that is. I also want to say thank you to all forum members whose posts i have been reading before and while deciding to buy my first Omegas and a special thanks to Desmond for his awesome site with lots and lots of valuable information. I just recently bought my first two vintage Omega Constellations and will follow up with some info and pics of them soon, probably followed by some questions. Cheers! /Magnus
Welcome Magnus, There are many Constellation collectors here, myself included, so you are in good company. Looking forward to seeing pictures of your two new acquisitions.
Thank you guys! As promised i'll start by sharing some pictures and the story of my first watch. I found it at a Swedish auctionhouse and thought it had a nice and clean look to it (though it was pretty dirty). I realize i might have been bidding against some of you guys here. The information provided was: Omega Constellation, stainless steel, 1966, automatic, pie-pan dial, date, ref. 168.005, cal. 561, nr. 24420643 Crystal and case with scrathes. These pictures are from the auction: From the pictures and specs i decided it was highly likely to be authentic and not modified (thanks again for all your help in leading me to this conclusion). The bracelet was some speidel flex but i didn't care much about that, i would just have to find a better match and replace it. The only thing that worried me was that "swiss made" didn't show in the pictures but as i really liked the general look of it i decided to bid on it, got slightly carried away and finally won. When it finally arrived the crystal was worse than could be seen in the pictures, the crown came loose when turned counter-clockwise and the movement didn't keep very accurate time. Some initial inspection showed that it looked pretty much ok but that it could use a new gasket. So, as i am a rookie to all of this i decided i probably could not do much about these problems myself and that i should leave it to a pro. Instead i turned my attention towards finding another bracelet for the watch.
I missed another romp? How can PatrickJ say "Here we go" to ConElPueblo's if CEP never posted?!?!?!?!?!? Oh I now see CEP did post that . Dang it..........
After scouting around on ebay for bracelets to match this kind of watch for a while I found myself looking for a Beads of Rice bracelet, they were just really good looking. Suddenly a bracelet in pretty good shape and with seemingly correct number and logo appeared: "1961 GENTS OMEGA STEEL OVAL LINK RICEBEAD BRACELET 18MM REF.8220 & 11 END PIECES" As a bonus the ends included was nr 11 which, from what I could find online, should fit my case. These pictures are from the auction: Said and done I won the auction. Upon delivery I fitted the bracelet to the case and they looked really neat together! Now pretty content with the general appearance of the watch i decided it was time to give it a good service and have that worn crystal replaced.
After emailing a bit with a watchmaker that was recommended to me by a friend I sent him the watch by post for a general checkup and service. After a few days he had examined the watch and gave the verdict: * The rotor had slightly touched the movement so the rotor axle should be adjusted or possibly replaced. * The crystal was very worn, not original and would be replaced. * The crown was original and the gasket seemed ok. * The caseback gasket had to be replaced. * To make it keep accurate time he recommended a full teardown, clean and rebuild of the movement. * To top it of he offered to give it a very gentle polish to bring out the matted parts vs the shiny ones. As I thought this sounded somewhere along the lines of my expectations I accepted the offer and asked him to give it the attention it needed. I also asked him to examine the 'black paint' on the tips of the hands to see if it could gently be removed. After a few days and some emails back and forth I got some nice pictures of the different parts of the watch and movement: The damage to the dial was more apparent without the glass but I still thought it looked pretty good and most importantly it was the real deal.
Actually I think the dial looks far better out from behind that scratched up crystal. Looks like you will have a very nice Constellation when this is finished.
After another few days work on the movement had progressed and I got some pictures of it while it was being re-assembled and fine tuned. The now gently polished case and bracelet looked pretty awesome. Once everything was put back together it was posted back to me. I couldn't wait to see the result with for myself. When it arrived i really liked what i saw. The end result was quite stunning, i just had to get my camera out and get a picture of it. After constructing a small light-room from Styrofoam and getting the tripod out i managed to get a pretty good picture. The picture has not been manipulated in any other way that adjusting the white balance. I guess that concludes the story of my first watch which I can now wear with pride. Thanks to watchmaker Anders Carlsson for his excellent work with it!